Social attachment of the infant guinea pig to its parents in a two-choice situation

2003

The guinea pig is highly developed at birth and requires little active maternal care. Yet the mother and other social figures markedly influence biobehavioral processes of the offspring. Here, responses of guinea pigs and nonhuman primates to maternal and other social separation procedures are compared, and influences of social partners on endocrine responses and behavior in periadolescent guinea pigs are described.

Section: Guinea Pigs Primates and The Psychobiology Of Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enduring maternal influences in a precocial rodent

2003

“…Guinea pig pups evince a strong attraction or attachment to the mother (Hennessy & Ritchey, 1987;Pettijohn, 1979;Seward, 1940). If placed alone into a novel environment, the pups exhibit hypothalamic± pituitary±adrenal (HPA) activation and distinct behavioral changes.…”

Section: Effects Of Maternal Separationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress‐induced sickness behaviors: An alternative hypothesis for responses during maternal separation

Deak

Schiml-Webb

2001

During maternal separation, some primate and nonprimate species show a biphasic (active/passive) response. The second stage is characterized by reduced activity, a hunched body posture, and other behaviors. Traditionally, the second stage has been referred to as "despair" and is considered an animal model for human depression. Recent research in psychoneuroimmunology suggests an alternative hypothesis--that behaviors occurring during the second passive phase represent stress-induced "sickness behaviors." This perspective more readily accounts for findings in widely divergent species, does not require assumptions regarding the ability to express complex emotional states, is empirically testable, and aligns the separation model with recent hypotheses regarding the nature and ontogeny of depressive illness.

“…Pups can discriminate and appear to prefer their mother to their father (Pettijohn, 1979b), their own artificial rearing figure (e.g., ball, chick) to a discriminable figure (Beauchamp & Hess, 1971;Gaston et al, 1969;Sluckin, 1968), or an artificial odor present during rearing to another, nonrearing odor (Carter & Man-, 1970). However, in only one reported study were pups given a choice between their own mother and another lactating female, a comparison more appropriate for determining individual recognition and preference.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormonal and behavioral attachment responses in infant guinea pigs

Ritchey

1987

Infant guinea pigs, 11/12 and 18/19 days of age, exhibited high rates of vocalizing and increases in plasma concentrations of cortisol when separated from their mothers for 30 min in a novel environment (unfamiliar cage in an unfamiliar room). Levels of vocalizations and plasma cortisol were significantly reduced when the pup was exposed to the novel environment with its own conscious or anesthetized mother, but not when it was exposed with an unfamiliar anesthetized lactating female. Pups spent equivalent amounts of time in physical contact with their own conscious mother, their own anesthetized mother and an unfamiliar anesthetized lactating female. Unexpectedly, when the unfamiliar cage was placed in an environmental chamber during separation, pups showed negligible increases in vocalizations and plasma cortisol levels, even when administered footshock just prior to exposure. These findings demonstrate that guinea pig pups exhibit adrenocorticoid as well as behavioral responses to maternal separation, provide further evidence for the existence of filial attachment in this species, and document an unexpected role of the test environment in determining responses during maternal separation. The guinea pig may afford a rodent model for examining the effects of attachment-object separation on the activity of the pituitary-adrenal system.